Page 119 [119]
THE ENVIRONMENT AND ANTHROPOLOGY 117
cooperate with diverse disciplines and contribute their anthropological knowledge
to the common stock. They deemed it important to voice the warning that scientific
knowledge is also culturally determined and not objective, so this knowledge must
also be handled critically. They must render the results of anthropologists
understandable and accessible for local, regional and global policy makers and
communities with that critical attitude (Crumley 2001).
Ecological anthropologists fight for the preservation of habitats and the
importance of biodiversity and cultural diversity on the basis of anthropological
knowledge, and use this knowledge to fight against environmental risks, in
opposition to the forces of the state and global economy. This requires that they
be in contact with political ecology, the Green movements and Green lobbies, and
other actors who listen to and both can and want to use their knowledge.
Environmental anthropologists are concerned not only with tribal cultures, but
also, for instance, with consumer society as well, which is one of the sources of
the environmental problems, if not the greatest. The holistic approach incorporated
in anthropology is fundamental for the study of individual elements in a broad
global context (Borsos 2004: 71-72).
The place of anthropology in contemporary
environmental questions
Since the turn of the millennium, anthropology has been actively involved in
environmental, climate-change related research.° This may be attributed to the
grave effect of environmental changes on the groups and places habitually studied
by anthropology; to the acknowledgement of the importance of investigating the
human dimensions of climate change; and to the fact that anthropological
knowledge both allows and requires anthropologists to take part in diverse
interdisciplinary research projects regarding climate change and adaptation to it.
According to a basic tenet of anthropology, culture determines how people perceive,
understand, experience and respond to the elements of key importance in the
world in which they live. This applies to their natural environment, too, and is
particularly important when the world is undergoing a radical change.’
Anthropology attempts to explore the interpretive framework with typical in-depth
investigation. In their study on anthropology’s position on climate change, Carla
Roncoli, Todd Crane and Ben Orlove posited four axioms, the examination of
which, in their view, leads to the understanding of the following processes:
1. how people perceive climate change through the lens of their culture (“perception”);
2. how people comprehend what they see based on their mental models and social
Bruno Latour clearly declares that the current situation is a great chance —a gift — for anthropology,
for the disciplines which deal with contemporary environmental questions (geochemistry, economics,
ecology, genetics, etc.) are forced to address issues belonging to the domain of anthropology (cited:
Brightman — Lewis 2017: 23).
The possible responses are determined by the cultural model of the given community; “the
individual and collective adaptations are shaped by credible, desirable, feasible and acceptable
common ideas” (Roncoli — Crane — Orlove 2009: 87).